Cantebury woman who rescued one dog from well finds another missing

CANTERBURY - A dog-owner who fell seriously ill while helping rescue her youngest bull terrier from a 20-foot well in a building at Shaker Village last week is searching for another of her dogs that wandered off during the incident.

Ann Wiggins, 66, was walking her three bull terriers on Thursday morning through Shaker Village when her youngest, a 20-month old, wandered into an open barn that had a rock well inside.

'All I heard was yelping, she was swimming around and she was scared,' Wiggins said Tuesday.

Wiggins climbed into the well, holding onto a bar that crossed the width of it, and managed to reach her dog with one hand, dialing 911 with the other. Rescuers quickly arrived at the scene and pulled Wiggins and her puppy from the well.

As Wiggins was struggling in the well, she felt pain in her arm and chest, and when she was being checked by rescue crews, it was determined that she was ill.

'I knew something was wrong, all the pain and I just didn't feel right,' she said.

She spent the next two days in Concord Hospital's Intensive Care Unit. It was first thought that she had a heart attack, but it turned out to have been a problem with adrenaline putting a strain on her heart, which is not as serious, and she was able to go home after two days.

But she still had a problem. One of the other three dogs with her that morning, her 4 1/2-year old dog Lydia, had wondered off in all the excitement. They have put signs up in the neighborhood asking for help in finding her.

Wiggins worries someone may have taken her in, thinking she is a stray.

'She's an extremely friendly dog,' Wiggins said.

The bull terrier looks like the dog in the Target store ads. She's white and weighs 45 pounds. Anyone who has seen Lydia or has information about her is asked to call Wiggins at 679-9507.